the effect of intellectual capital on sports small businesses innovation (case study: tehran city)

the rapid changes in sport industry urge sport investors and entrepreneurs to adopt creative and innovative approaches. in this situation, intellectual property is among the most important organizational assets and the potential success of an organization is rooted in their intellectual capabilities. on the other hand, relying on innovation, small businesses are seeking to improve their performance and to increase their competitive advantage. the purpose of this study is to examine the effect of intellectual capital on smes innovation in sport industry in tehran province. from 465 small businesses working in the aforementioned industry, 210 samples have been selected. the research method is descriptive and correlation technique has been used. the data was collected using a questionnaire and analyzed using simple and multiple regression analysis.  the regression analysis showed that among different dimensions of intellectual capital, human and relational (customer) capital, have the greatest impact on sport business innovation and the structural capital is not a good predictor.